chapters 6 and 7 lecture notes

Question 1

what does mcmullin have to say about agency

Answer 1

• agency and action are interchangable
• the issue she adresses is how to relate action to structure
• she does this through 2 broad camps
  1) integrated approaches
  2) analytic dualism

Question 2

discuss the life-course perspective

Answer 2

reintroduces 2 concepts that explain the ebb and flow of poverty as a way to understand inequality

1) social time

• ppl begin the dynamic and contexual aging process at birth
• historical context and time matters
• life transactions are heterogenious and are marked by sequences of events closely tied to social mobility studies

2) substantive birth cohort

• geographic location, class, gender, ethnicity, and race positions into which actors are born into
• generations are used to:
  
  • describe age differences b/c families
  • others use it to describe time-specific awareness

ALL OF THIS TO SAY: the process of distribution, production and reproduction are interrelated and organize social activities through a complex interplay of CAGE that creates the condition for survival

• none are determinative on their own
• the processes and connections of CAGE are coordinated through relations of power

Question 3

how does webber distinguish between actors and social action?

Answer 3

Actors

• meaningful human behavoir
• this is an individuals experience of meaningful action
• experienced through: internal dialogue and external behavior

social action

• action that is meaningful only in relation to another’s behavior

Question 4

the theory of analytical dualism is discussed by whom?

Answer 4

Margret Archer

Question 5

recursive relationship b/w opression and power is actualized through integrated approaches. t or F

Answer 5

False -> CAGE

Question 6

how is agency restricted ?

Answer 6

• limited to those who have the opportunities to do so

Question 7

who holds a middle ground approach to analytical dualism?

Answer 7

William Sewel

Question 8

“social structures are comprised by individuals who interact with those structures and can change those structures” this is the definition of ?

Answer 8

Agency

Question 9

discuss Archer’s analytical dualism

Answer 9

agents and actions are distinct

agents

• collectives sharing the same life chances
• each person is an agent in collectives
• involuntary situated beings

social agency

• the interaction b/w groups can effect social change and stability

actions

• agents and actions are linked by time -> born agents and mature into actors
• actions = choices -> actions conditioned by agency

Question 10

what does William Sewel talk about?

Answer 10

he uses Gidden’s rules and resources in the duality of structure

• rules are schematic
• they generalize ways of interacting in various contexts
• they are virtual in that they cannot be empirically specified
• recourses are an effect of social schemas (and vise versa)
• structures emerge thorugh this relationship
• there are tensions b/w the virtual and the actual ->

agents have different capacity for action depending on their structural circumstances

• actors draw on a range of schemas and resources producing creativity/change

Question 11

with regards to actors and agency, inequality is linked to _____

Answer 11

Social Mobility

Question 12

discuss social inequality

Answer 12

• abstract and concrete dimensions
  
  • abstract through the interplay of agents and structures -> social categories produced and created through structural hiearchies
  • concrete through the disadvantages actors experience in their families, workplaces, education, and interactions with the state

Question 13

what 2 ppl discuss analytic dualism

Answer 13

• bourdieau
• archer

Question 14

who are the 3 individuals who talk about agency?

Answer 14

• Giddens
• Archer
• mcmullin

Question 15

“reintroduces two concepts to explain the ebb and flow of poverty as a way to understand inequality”. this is the definition of

Answer 15

life-course perspective

Question 16

what does archer have to say about analytical dualism

Answer 16

agents and structures not reducable to one another -> boundaries b/w agents and structures

• there is tension b/w Morphogenesis (seeking change) and Morphostasis (status quo)
• creates the tension for response b/w agents and structures

Above introduces time -> it takes time for same sex marriage to be accepted in society

• corporate agents are more able than individuals to affect change -> individuals operate in existing conditions
• empirically this is a very good theory
• to examine the tension b.w groups

Question 17

what is Gidden’s theory of structuration?

Answer 17

• duality of structure

agents generate structures that are the medium and the outcome

- he uses action and agency interchangeably

Problem: he conflates agency with structure -> this definition does not help us differentiate b/w agency and action

Question 18

actors live in the social constraints and ideas of social structures. t or f

Answer 18

true

Question 19

the theory of structuration is discussed by …

Answer 19

Anthony Giddens

Question 20

what are 2 methods of contestation that speaks to habitus in that structures are no longer unidirectional impositions?

Answer 20

conformity

resistance

Question 21

what does bourdieau have to say about analytical dualism

Answer 21

Habitus -> middle ground where agents and structures are linked

• a person can only act on what they know and through their personal experience -> this is what organizes social life

he is critical of integrated approaches cuz they conflate agency with structure

• seperate but are linked thorugh habitus

problems:

• unidirectional habitus -> reducing everything to a one-way direction

Question 22

the life course perspective is part of …

Answer 22

actors and CAGE

Question 23

the life course perspective relies on concepts developed by previous theorists -> oppression and power. t or f

Answer 23

true

Question 24

discuss the integrated apporach of structuration theory (giddens)

Answer 24

structures are rules and resources organized as social systems

• rules = norms and practices
• resources = bound to power relations

structures limit and produce actions and structures are a modality of power

• power is detected in relations b/w agents and structure
• agents and structures are mutually constitutive
• modality -> way society organizes itself arond some logic (profit imparative)

Question 25

discuss the integrated approach of social construction of reality (berger and luckmann)

Answer 25

structure and agency are the same thing.

• Berger and Luckmann structure structure and action in dialectic terms
• structures emerge and are controlled by the individual -> this means that change is the responsibility of the individual

problems

• neglects power in the relationship
• assumes everyone is equally an agent

Question 26

agency and social action are similar. T or F

Answer 26

True